As we went around exploring the heritage precinct of Georgetown along Lebuh Farquhar , our self-guided walking tour brought right at the footsteps of the Eastern & Oriental Hotel. A jewel of the yesteryears, the hotel, popularly known as the E&O, still, incredibly, stands strong and evokes a unique, warm, nostalgic feeling in intrepid travellers like Neeti and me...
Giant palm fronds greeted us at the entrance to the hotel. We spent a good ten minutes clicking photographs of the amazing building, appreciating the regal, colonial architecture.
The very look of the property reminded me of the Taj Mahal Hotel back home in Mumbai and the Raffles Hotel in Singapore. The thread that binds these incredible hotels is their heritage and history... What also makes them stand out is that they are lot like a labour of love, which is what modern hotels lack - contemporary hotel properties are functional and aseptic, they lack the warmth that such heritage properties exude...
It would indeed be quite royal feeling to be behind those majestic windows in one of the 101 suites of the Heritage Wing of the E&O...
The Moorish minarets give the property a very exotic feel...
As we stood there appreciating the detailing, Neeti made the first move and suggested that we explore the lobby and public areas of the property. I agreed with some degree of trepidation - Singapore's Raffles, as we had experienced last August, bars non-guests from visiting the lobby, I was afraid the E&O too might have such a rule, but I willingly and happily followed Neeti, who, I ungrudingly confess, is a bit more adventurous than me...
The legendary "echo dome" in the lobby... it's supposed to echo back what you say...
Bright tropical flowers greeted us as we entered the cool lobby... What a relief from the extreme humidity outdoors...
The bell hops, porters and the doormen here wear the very British colonial-era khaki uniforms, complete with pith helmets and knee-high socks... For an instance it felt as though we had time-travelled into the early 1900s...
The magnificent staircase reminded me of the the legendary grand staircase we have back home at the Taj Mahal, Mumbai...
Events of day at the E&O, it seemed to be quite a light day at the property...
That's where stood this glass display of the rich and the famous who patronised the E&O in the past including Noel Coward, Somerset Maugham and Douglas Fairbanks...
The display also had a mention of Sivaji Ganesan, the legendary Indian actor and Dr. Sun Yat Sen, who seems to be following us through our travels across South East Asia!!!
Here an effervescent and friendly middle-aged lady greeted us and introduced herself as Merlene. She had up set up a small gallery on the history of the E&O and invited to give us a peek into the history of the E&O...
Since the gallery had opened only recently, she frequents the lobby and volunteers to walk guests and enthusiasts like us through the history of the E&O, which as we later discovered is a microcosm of Penang's rich history and cultural heritage...
Neeti and I gleefully accepted Merlene's offer and walked towards the Victory Annexe, a recently commissioned wing of the hotel that has 122-suites...
As we walked down the corridors towards the Victory Annexe, we passed by the legendary Sarkies Corner, a colonial coffee-shop...
Sarkies Corner was decked up for the Chinese New Year celebrations...
Malay woodwork adorned the corridor...
The corridors spoke of the grandeur of the colonial times, a timeless elegance that refuses to die...
Portraits of three of the four Sarkies brothers adorn the wall...
A few steps down the corridor, we passed by 1885, a fine dine restaurant - named after the year in which the E&O Hotel was established...
Ahhh well, true to the E&O's colonial traditions, 1885 offers a "Traditional Afternoon Tea" much like the Raffles' High Tea, in Singapore...
Indeed, there isn't a better way to enjoy a leisurely and luxurious afternoon without an English high tea and both of us hope to that sometime soon, here at the E&O... - another addition to my overflowing bucket-list!
Here, stands a giant kelupang (Java olive), which is said to be older than the E&O itself...
The E&O boasts of one of the longest seafronts amongst hotels...
What a magnificent view of the Straits of Malacca... the straits that have seen it all - navies fighting for dominance, traders shipping spices, tin and rubber and civilisations migrating... Indeed Penang was a witness to a lot through the waves of history...
The skyline of Gurney Drive in the horizon...
Gurney Drive is after Sir Henry Gurney, the British High Commissioner in Malaya, who was assassinated by the guerrillas of the Malayan Communist Party during the Malayan Emergency in 1951...
The alfresco breakfast area...
It will be an experience to have a meal here someday...
Merlene leads the way for us into the E&O Gallery...
I could spend a whole week here gazing into the Straits of Malacca and relive the times when civilisations crisscrossed these narrow waters...
And finally we entered the Victory Annexe...
And there we were in the E&O...
There we were with the story of timeless love and the very distinctive E&O logo... Merlene narrated the story of the Sarkies brothers, the founders of E&O, with such an infectious passion that it would have been hard for anyone not to fall in love with history of Penang and specifically that of the E&O...
The Sarkies brothers - Martin, Tigran, Aviet and Arshak, who were ethnic Armenians, came from Isfahan in Persia or modern day Iran. As businessmen, the Sarkies family benefited immensely from the East-West trade along the Silk Route. But the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 made the sea-route more economical. The astute Armenian brothers realised that this would adversely impact their businesses and they made a move to Asia - Calcutta and the Straits Settlements (Singapore and Penang).
Martin and Tigran Sarkies landed up in Georgetown, Penang in 1869, which by then had become a significant trading outpost for the East Indian Company. They realised the need for a high-quality accommodation for weary traders travelling into the Orient after months on the ship. 23-year-old Tigran made the first move into the hotel industry, seeing it as more profitable than his fledgling auction business. He took over the lease of a large bungalow at 1A, Light Street and named it the Eastern Hotel, opening in 1885.
Martin soon acquired the Hotel de l’Europe, on the seafront at Farquar Street, and renamed it the Oriental Hotel. While Tigran managed the Oriental, Martin was responsible for the Eastern. Their younger brother, Aviet, joined them and was made the manager of the Eastern Hotel. The brothers who had no prior experience in the hospitality business looked at it from an unconventional perspective - they developed a new view of actual needs of guests, unhindered by established practices. They blended Asian hospitality with European luxury to set new standards of success. An example of this is how they used their Persian connections, to bring in caviar from the Caspian Sea to Penang!
By August 1889, the extended renovated Oriental Hotel was ready for the public. The brothers then gave up the Eastern, but not wanting to lose the goodwill and familiarity of its name, decided to rename the Oriental, the Eastern and Oriental Hotel - which soon became shortened to the E&O.
Meanwhile Martin and Tigran moved into Singapore and established the Raffles Hotel in 1887, on premises leased from an Arab trader and philanthropist Syed Mohamed Alsagoff and a Chinese entrepreneur, Seah Liang Siah.
Martin retired and moved back to Isfahan in late 1890, and that's when the youngest brother Arshak, came in from Calcutta, where he was pursuing his studies. Arshak joined the E&O having gained some experience at Raffles.
The brothers soon branched out and each brother took responsibility for a different hotel. Tigran remained in charge of Raffles, Aviet opened the Sarkies Hotel in Rangoon, leaving Arshak in control of the E&O. Their extended family- cousins set up hotels in Surabaya and Batavia. The Sarkies adored luxury - tablescloths were made of the finest Bohemian linen, silver cutlery was lavishly used and Carrara white marble adorned the buildings. The hotel claimed that it was "The Premier Hotel East of Suez", boasting more than 100 rooms, 40 of them with adjoining bathrooms, hot and cold running water, individual telephones and a 902-foot seafront, "the longest of any hotel in the world".
The fame of the Sarkies reached legendary proportions, within a decade of opening the Eastern Hotel. I came across this snippet on the Net that exemplifies their fame:
Speaking at a celebratory lunch at the E&O in 1893, Sir Frank Swettenham first told the joke which was to pass into history: ‘A little boy was asked by his teacher in Perak who the Sakais were, and replied that they were people who kept hotels.’ (The Sakais are one of the indigenous races of Malaysia.)
Guests were pampered no end and some even stayed for months, unable to pay up in the end. The Sarkies waived the accounts of those in need. It is said that fellow Armenians could always count on help from the Sarkies!
Meanwhile the flamboyant Arshak maxed out on life's pleasures - he loved horseracing, was a playboy and enjoyed a stiff whisky with soda. He was more of an entertainer than a businessman, and ran up unsustainable debts. After his death in 1931, a Singaporean businessman, Tang Men Jim filed for bankruptcy of the Raffles 35,000 Straits Dollars of unpaid liabilities for food supplies. Their other liabilities to 195 creditors was estimated as upwards of 3.5 million Straits Dollars.
Bankruptcy proceedings resulted in the Sarkies losing control of their hotels in Singapore and Penang. The hotel in Surabaya, however, stayed in the hands of the Sarkies' descendants until 1969.
Over the years, E&O decayed and changed hands from Jack Chia Enterprise to the Malaysian property magnate, Dato' Ka Hon "Terry" Tham, who restored the property to its present shape of luxurious colonial grandeur is reported to have said "I truly feel that I am not the owner of the E&O Hotel. I'm more of a custodian of this heritage landmark cherished especially by Penangites."
Testimonies of the staff of yesteryears...
Images from a bygone era...
The four brothers...
Celebrities and VIPs who graced the E&O include Sir Noël Coward, Douglas Fairbanks, Hermann Hesse, Rudyard Kipling, Somerset Maugham, Sun Yat Sen, Charlie Chaplin, Hassanal Bolkiah (Sultan of Brunei), Lee Kuan Yew (the first Prime Minister of Singapore) and Karl May...
And soon we will be on this list (!!!!)
Stories of guests at the E&O...
Memorabilia from the past...
Stories of E&O patrons... With such grandeur, you have to be loyal!
Festivities at the Ballroom...
Arshak's vision still lives on...
(Psst... rumours on the Net say the E&O is haunted by the Sarkies. I would say they are keeping a watchful eye on their legacy!)
Imagine performers crooning "Sometimes when we touch..."
After Merlene showed us around, we stopped by having a chat with her. It turned out Merlene had Indian links - she is married to a gentlemen of Indian descent, of Sikh-Catholic ancestry. Her mother in law belongs to Agra!
After quite a long conversation, we thanked Merlene for the help and headed out on Lebuh Farquhar... Both Neeti and I were speechless for a while, awestruck by the grandeur and history of the E&O...
We looked back into the corridors and saw visions of the past - traders, businessmen, performers, the staff and the of course, the Sarkies doing their bit. We made a mental note to add the E&O to our bucket list, vowed to come back, stay here someday and soak in the timeless colonial grandeur... Till then, au revoir E&O...
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